“I Am 1 in 6: Julie Van den Steen’s Podcast on Pregnancy Loss and Grief”

“I am Julie Van den Steen and I am 1 in 6. On July 18, 2022 I lost my baby. Months later, I made my news public and was inundated with warm responses. For the first time I felt less alone.”

“It was then that I decided to make this podcast, to try and break through the silent sadness and loneliness. But also to find answers to my questions. About being pregnant, about the loss, the grieving process.”

With these words, Julie opens her story. “I still have some questions now,” she confesses. “The podcast brushed them off the table, but this remains a subject that you never stop talking about. And because of the taboo. If you lose a child, you also lose all information.”

“I scoured the internet and you find a lot of contradictions there. You go crazy. It confuses you. Doctors can also contradict each other. I am much further ahead than months ago and many questions have been answered. But sometimes I doubt whether I am to blame. Fighting that doubt is very important, I noticed, and we hope to do that in the podcast.”

Julie talks to known and unknown people who unfortunately went through the same thing, and experts who deal with it on a daily basis. For example, presenter Tijs Vanneste, singer Kato Callebaut and sports anchor Lies Vandenberghe are discussed. Because Julie is not alone. She is 1 in 6.

She also talks to actress Tine Embrechts: the first podcast episode can now be listened to. “Tine’s loss of expectation was 18 years ago. Today, that no longer haunts her mind. And that is a comforting thought. She does talk about how drastic the loss was for her at the time. After the conversation with Tine I walked out on clouds: she gave such good advice.”

What Julie hopes to accomplish with the podcast? “I want to open the conversation. Maybe people dare to talk to each other through the podcast. Or maybe someone from politics is listening in and realizes that there is still work to be done. I am thinking, for example, of bereavement leave, however idealistic of me that may be. But still, to see such a measure would be great.”

“Because of the taboo, you always have to keep going. While one sentence constantly rings in my head from the very beginning: you have to feel it to heal it. Perhaps the podcast can help us in that.”

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